Kiss Hide Bite: A Vampire Romantic Thriller

by Anna Rainn

  “What are you doing?”

  Nick was reckless; it wasn’t something new, but his touch was too aggressive today, too daring.

  “Keep moving,” he ordered. I was too drowsy to pinpoint what alarmed me, let alone put it into words, so I did as I was told. His hand retracted back to my ass. I remembered our last time in the restaurant, how his fingers and lips felt so sinfully delicious, how they had awakened my body in new ways. Was he planning something new? Was this why he was being so dark? I shuddered at the thought. My door was steps away, and I would soon find out.

  Nick gave my ass one last squeeze, then pulled his hand up my body and wrapped it around my waist. His big muscled body pressed against me from the back. Impatient, he tilted his head and took a gentle love bite out of my neck. I almost lost control of my body, my keys nearly falling out of my hands. Nick’s hand took control, pulling the keys from my limp fingers and opening the door.

  Inside, he kept the dark. His hands roughly led me to the sofa, fiddling with my clothes, with my body. Then he pushed me hard, too hard. I fell on the sofa with a gasp. He didn’t wait. He pulled my hair back, forcing me to arch my back. His other hand fell on my ass in a slap. I screamed. Before I could recover, another came, harder.

  “Nick, stop!”

  “You don’t want this?” he asked, his grip on my hair loosening, but not letting go.

  “Not the spanking,” I said, already missing the feeling of his hand on me.

  “My finger, then? Like last time?” I felt Nick’s hand take hold of the dress from the back opening and pull, then I heard the fabric complain and realized my dress was being ripped off of me.

  Hands gripped a fat butt cheek squeezing, spreading me, then a finger pushed the thin underwear aside and dipped into my wetness.

  “Front or back, Marissa?” Nick asked, stroking me asshole to sex hole. I didn’t want the teasing; I wanted the fullness of him inside me. But I knew that he too needed things. I knew that he needed to have me asking for every stroke, pleading for every touch before he would let himself do the things he does to me. He needed my utter consent to be taken the way he takes me. And although he was rough today, rougher than ever before, he still needed to have me say the words. Was it the begging that turned him on? Or did he secretly crave to pin me down and force himself into me? Was it my desire for him that he wanted, or was his insistence on hearing the words his way of making sure that he didn’t cross any lines, that he didn’t surrender to dark urges?

  “Neither,” I answered his question. “I want… I want your mouth on me. Like before.”

  With a swift motion, Nick rolled me onto my back and pulled my legs so I was lying down on the sofa. I could see the outline of his face in the dark before he sank it between my legs. I remember wondering what he was thinking, whether he was disappointed, but then his mouth closed around the thin string of underwear at my crotch and sucked. He was sucking my wetness, I realized, suddenly hit by a strong feeling of shyness. My legs tried to close, but Nick pinned them back down as his tongue glided around the string of underwear, pulling it from between my hot lips. I sighed in satisfaction, temporarily comforted by the absence of pressure on my sex. This underwear had been torturing me all night, but Nick’s hand closing around the delicate waistband and pulling it down made me think it was all worth it. It was worth the thirst in his mouth and the need in his touch as he peeled the lace down and laid my pussy bare for his tongue.

  Nick’s mouth lingered at my inner thighs, kissing them eerily gently. His teeth brushed against the skin, and for a crazy moment, I almost closed my legs, sensing a bite coming. It must have been all the adrenalin because Nick’s soft lips continued their sacred trail up. He parted me with his tongue, sucking on my folds gently, hovering above my nub, spinning his magic into me. He didn’t suck on me this time; his tongue was a feather-light whip flicking me into utter madness. With every flutter of his tongue, my need screamed, and I knew release wasn’t coming, that if I were to stay here, my moans would have their way and turn into screams of need. I was helpless in his mouth, and although it was my helplessness I enjoyed with Nick, I wanted something else. Tonight, I craved control.

  “Enough,” I half said, half moaned, pushing him away with my foot. Strangely enough, he obliged me, letting me pull away.

  With a long, careful step, I was off the sofa. My eyes had gotten used to the dark by this point, and I knew Nick’s night vision must also be restored. I turned sideways, pushing my shoulders back, taking a deep breath and arching my back, letting him enjoy the view of my silhouette in the dark, of the roundness of my big breast and the sharp nipples demanding his attention.

  Nick was sitting on the sofa. A movement was going on in his lap, and I realized he was stroking himself to me. I cupped my breast, lifted it up, and let it drop back, jiggling.

  “Fuck,” Nick whispered. “Come here.”

  It was me who was making him ask this time.

  I briefly considered making him wait, dragging the show on longer. It was another first with Nick: me feeling sexy enough for something like this, me basking in my power over a man. But as much as I wanted this feeling to last, my need to feel his length perched into me was stronger. I gave in.

  Taking the few steps separating me from Nick’s seated figure on the sofa, I wished I could see his eyes, see the way he was looking at me. But I had to take what the dark had to offer: heightened pleasures.

  Nick’s hand sent a wave of sensations through my body as it glided on my waist, steadying me while I spread my legs, climbed on his laps, straddled his large rock solid body. Then the hands slid down further towards my butt, caressing the cheeks with deceptive gentleness before spreading them apart roughly and pulling my body down onto the eager erection.

  Nick’s mouth on me had gotten me hot and ready, so the large mushroom poked into me painlessly. I heard his hiss shooting into the air in time with the sudden hunger in my core. I had a taste, and now my body demanded the whole course. My hands held on to the balls of Nick’s shoulders as I lowered myself onto him, taking more length in. I found support on a chest made of stone as I rocked on Nick’s lap, accommodating to his presence in me, before pushing down onto him again.

  “Oh, fuck this,” I heard Nick curse, then he dug his fingers into my ass cheeks and thrust his hip up, pushing his cock into me to the hilt with one rough motion. I screamed, in surprise, in pain, and then in pleasure.

  Nick was impatient, hard and ruthless in his need to take me. His hips moved, bouncing me atop him. My body obeyed his, opening to be stabbed again and again with his growing member.

  “Slow down,” I pleaded, unable to keep up, but a hard spank fell on my ass.

  “Shut up,” Nick groaned, fingering me from behind. His other hand took my waist into an iron grip, lifting me up and pushing me back down on the thick hungry cock beneath. My body exploded in sensation, confused, dazed, torn. Nick’s assault on me had taken all fronts. I was shaking with humiliation, with lust, with pleasure. I realized helplessly that I was shaking with an oncoming orgasm.

  “Yes,” Nick’s voice was almost the sound of an animal, his grip on my waist too tight it hurt, his dick in me swelling, teasing my orgasm.

  He lowered his face onto one bouncing tit and took the nipple in his mouth. His cock hammered my spot, his finger stretched my ring, his teeth bit into my flesh, I fell in moans and tears and pleas, the thick cock inside me pulsing with a dance of its own.

  “Get off me!” Nick screamed, pushing me away.

  I fell on the sofa, uncomprehending.

  Nick’s back was turned to me. He was pulling his shoes on.

  “Did I do something? I walked to him.

  “Stay away,” he spat, taking two wide steps to the door.

  “Nick, you’re only wearing one shoe! What’s wrong?” I circled him, standing between him and the door. In front of me, two circles of blue light glowed in the dark. I froze in place. The two circles of blue light in front of me didn
’t move; Nick too was frozen.

  “I don’t understand,” I whispered.

  “Get away from me, Marissa,” Nick said. “Let me go. It’s for your own good.”

  “What are you?” I asked, shaking. I needed to get away from him, to run, to put a door between us.

  “I can hear your heart beating. You’re scared of me.” Nick’s voice was cold and bitter and dark. For a moment, I wanted to deny it, to hug him, but I was shaking with fear. I was standing in front of a vampire, just like the one that had killed Bianca and almost killed me. I had been fucked by a vampire. My breathing was so loud even I could hear it.

  “Your blood is in my mouth. I can’t control myself for much longer. MOVE!” Nick screamed at me. The scream was like a slap in the face, jerking me out of my daze and forcing my feet to act. I slid to the side to keep as much distance as possible between myself and Nick, and I ran to my bedroom. The apartment door was open and closed before I had reached my room. Nick was gone.

  Chapter 32

  For a long period, I stayed on the floor behind my closed bedroom door. There was nothing to hide from; Nick was long gone, but I still needed the closed door behind me. I needed to put a barrier between me and what happened outside, to keep the glowing eyes locked out in another space. The dark in my room was of no comfort. The memory kept replaying in my head. Nick biting me, pushing into me with his final release, and then pushing me away and running. Running from me, from my blood, from his need to take more of it into the mouth that had been kissing me and whispering sexy words, playful words, soothing words in my ears for days.

  The questions I had been asking myself earlier have been answered. It wasn’t my arousal that got to him. Nick had been carefully reining himself in. Every time he asked me to say the words, he was double-checking that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, anything a human girl would object to. He was fighting a forbidden need as I had suspected. But the dark urges he was resisting weren’t sexual; Nick was fighting his need to feed.

  I pushed my back to the wooden door, taking solace in the solid rough surface. I was still naked, and I was still shaking with fear, with betrayal. Was it love at all? Was it even lust? Was it anything more than a vampire drawn to a potential victim?

  The feeling of his mouth on my inner thigh crept over me again. His lips were cold, and some instinct told me he was going to bite me. It was the same instinct that detected his darkness every time Nick looked at me before we had sex. In every encounter, I had seen the change on his face, the predatory glint in his eyes and the low voice, the groan of an animal. Like a hungry beast, I had thought, not knowing how close to the truth I was. Nick always asked for affirmation right after that look crossed his face. And I always said yes to whatever he wanted. Because it was that very damn instinct that drew me to Nick like a moth to a flame. I was his food, and on some level, my body went to him willingly.

  I had willingly let a vampire into my life, into my body, into my heart. I had stopped shaking, but I was still breathing fast. I wasn’t ready to go outside yet, or to switch on the lights and face the truth of my life now.

  I had never seen him in daylight, the thought appeared out of nowhere. From that very first time we met at a bar on a late night, Nick had only been there at night. The memory of my first night with him brought the shaking back. What’s worse than a one night stand with a kinky stranger? A one night stand with a kinky vampire. I hadn’t just humiliated myself by bringing in a stranger to my bed; I had invited a vampire into my home. Was I lucky when he walked away after our one night stand? Did he come with me that night with worse intention that just sex? Was he planning to feed? I was an even bigger fool than I had thought. And I was alive only because of… luck?

  I understand why Nick didn’t hurt me after we met the second time. Law enforcement was involved. But why did he walk away and leave me unharmed last year? It was a question nobody can answer but Nick.

  Whatever luck I had had back then ran out when a second vampire entered my life, and Nick showed up again. The bitter truth is I had been blaming Nick for leaving when I should’ve been thanking him. I tried to laugh at the irony of it, but there were only tears, and I was afraid opening my mouth would let the sobs out. So I stayed silent, staring into the dark.

  A supernatural consultant he was, and didn’t it make sense that he was a supernatural creature himself? That way he could come and go in the underworld as he pleases. There was no risk in him walking in and out of a vampire club. I was over here worried for him when he’d been with his own kind.

  The great Nicholas Hayes, Justin had called him in that fateful fight. Justin had known who Nick was, but I hadn’t. The two vampires had actually been afraid of him. They split up so one of them could lure Nick into a trap because they had known that he was strong as only a vampire can be. And they had been carrying silver knives. Why carry silver knives when you’re attacking three humans?

  The stark contrast between how Tyler and Justin handled Nick and how they handled Owen never occurred to me. And I never questioned why Nick, a supposed mortal, all by himself, took over two vampires when Owen had almost been devoured to death by only one of the two.

  That night, when I couldn’t go back home, wasn’t Nick supposed to take me home with him? Why take me back to the police station, and not his place? I assumed it was because a vampire hunter’s house wasn’t a safe place, when it was really because a vampire's house wasn’t safe.

  My feet connected with the floor as I pulled myself up and took my first steps out of my bedroom. The dark outside felt threatening, but nothing glowed but the flurry of night lights outside my window. I switched the flash on my phone on anyway, scanning the living space and the kitchen. The white beam of light danced across the plush sofa, the dark TV screen, the apartment door, the kitchen appliances. The door was closed. It was safe. But I knew I was fooling myself yet again. It would never be safe. I flicked on the lights and took refuge in the fragile comfort it brought.

  A distinct memory came to me: Nick with live anger on his face, hovering at Caleb’s door until he was invited in. I laughed in bitterness. It was all there for me to see, but I never did. Can you blame me? Would you have anticipated that the police consultant you were sleeping was a vampire of all things? But the truth is: I blamed myself. Everybody else had known. The two vampires knew, Owen probably knew. He had been acting so sure up in that dark building watching his friend wrestle two of nature’s most lethal monsters. They can’t kill Nick, he’d said. They couldn’t kill Nick because Nick wasn’t human. That’s what he didn’t say. That’s what he meant.

  I was the only fool.

  Chapter 33

  The milk had scorched. I cursed, pulling the pitcher and dumping the contents in the sink. My chest was heaving, and before I knew it, a sob escaped. My cheeks were already wet. I did a quick scan of possible paths to the staff room and to the bathroom. The road wasn’t clear.

  Maybe showing up to work today was a bad idea, but my only other option was to stay home and let my thoughts and regrets consume me. I had been tossing and turning all night; I hadn’t had a single minute of sleep. At four, I decided that if I stayed home today, I was going to lose my mind. I needed the distraction. More than that, I needed the perspective. Black and Foam had been my one priority for over a year, and I needed to re-establish that, to re-focus on the thing that mattered the most: my business.

  The rationale seemed solid at the time. Now, hiding by the sink with tears on my face and sobs in my throat, I was minutes away from being spotted crying at work by one of my employees. Not very professional, and definitely not what I had in mind when I ran out of my door and into the enclosure of my car in the morning.

  A hand fell on my shoulder and I jumped back.

  “Hey, hey, easy,” Caleb whispered. “Do you need to go? I can take over.”

  The lines at the registers were thankfully short, but the orders were elaborate.

  “I can handle the weekend crowd,” Caleb
assured me. As always, he knew exactly what I was thinking and what to say to make things better.

  I slipped out wordlessly, looking down to hide my face from everybody else as I walked to the bathroom. It was bad enough that Caleb saw me looking like this, but at least Caleb was Caleb. He was my best friend. My employees need not be made a part of my personal drama.

  I splashed water on my face. It was cold, soothing. The bathroom door was closed behind me, but I needed to be in a smaller space. I walked into the small toilet stall, closed the door behind me, locked it, and sat on the toilet seat. Only then could I let the ugly tears come in their heart-wrenching intensity. It was over. Nick and I were over. More than that, we were never what I thought. We never were, and we never will be. My body shook with another sob, and I let it. It had to get out. Everything that had been building up in me had to be let out. This was the only way I’d be able to carry on today. The day was as far as my plan went; I didn’t think about surviving the week or the month.

  When I stepped back outside, my hair was tied back in a long sleek ponytail, my apron was smooth, and although there was no smile on my face, I didn’t look like I felt. That was good enough for today.

  The dear noise of a crowded café greeted me. It was too familiar and too comforting my heart warmed up a little. This was my life; this was what I cared about — making coffee, serving coffee, taking care of my customers and my employees. This was home. The past two weeks with their vampires and night escapades were a chapter from the wrong book. And all I needed to do is rip the pages and go back to my comfortable life.

  True love wasn’t for me. There was bitterness with the warmth I was feeling. But it was better that way. It was better to stay safe, to only take risks where numbers can measure the successes and failures. I wasn’t taking any more chances with my heart. It was time for me to accept that this was my share from the pie of life. I am the girl with the good looks and the good business and the good family; nobody has it all. And this was a big slice of the pie, bigger than most get. So if anything, I should be grateful, happy even. Maybe sometime in the far future, there would be someone, I thought wistfully, but the face that came with that thought was a face with transparent blue eyes, so I dismissed the idea, pushed it away before the eyes started glowing. No, none for me, thank you. I was single, and this was how it was going to be. I never wanted to see that face again.